


An Quiet Otherside To The Butterfly Kingdom

by Overunderman



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: F/M, Headcannon dominant, Mild Language, Most of characters will appear later, Original Character(s), Original au, Prequel, Royal Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-06-20 18:30:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15540375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overunderman/pseuds/Overunderman
Summary: Long before the mighty Queens Of Mewni and their immense power, there was but a simple Butterfly kingdom near the equator of Mewni. We shall look at it at its turning point from the inside in, every actor in its existence. To do so we must place ourselves at a very particular time, that of the rule of Andrisa Butterfly. Going through the centuries, we find a much smaller kingdom then of today, but still as prideful. It has thrived and ruled decisively among the land for generations. Until this moment. With a food shortage engulfing the kingdom, and with heightening tensions between local kingdoms, Andrisa Butterfly, the current Queen, must try to solve this crisis however she can. What she does will determine the fate the kingdom and of her own.Join in on this AU prequel telling of the history of the Butterfly Kingdom!





	1. Taters

The soft morning ocean breeze hit softly the walls of the Butterfly Kingdom, giving the appropriate climate for such a nice and beautiful town on the coast. Located on an otherwise barren coastline, it from afar didn’t give the feeling of something grandiose but rather of something simple and homey. It never got too cold nor worm, being the perfect place for the life of a farmer, fisherman, lumberjack, soldier, all who came and grew it to its massive size. Despite that, it never seemed to be too overcrowded or unorganized, each villager having his own small corner to live in. Houses, workshops, stores all fit humbly into the town, none drawing too much attention. Even the palace, on its small hill, couldn’t remove this characteristic with its many colored walls, vibrant murals or artistic architecture. There it was, the Butterfly Kingdom, which was the most powerful on Mewni.  It ruled defiantly, being unmatched in all the land. The great legacy of rulers spanned generations, to the very beginning of its existence. But that was in its past, and although its aesthetics of simple living barely hung on to it, much what made it prosperous was lost in the the atmosphere of today.

To see it in its truest light you must ignore its soft exterior and look deeper. Looking past the walls and into the small streets the image of an old man in ragged clothes appears running through town at speeds his body can barley handle. He desperately runs, trying not to smash into any of the stone walls as he turns corners. He can see the ten meter high palace as he makes his way through the morning crowd. Running up the stairs to it, the guards at the palace fail to notice his arrival, some due to a late night party at the tavern, others out of a lack of sleep because of the noise it made. By the time anyone seems to notice he has already made it to a giant  beautifully decorated double door with two figures on each one, a man and a women. As he barges through, the two figures emerged, sitting in two thrones at the end of a long hall illuminated by the soft morning sun coming through windows that made the roof.  Tired and exhausted, his knees fell to the cold marble floor. Two regal guards in robes with spears approached him, one saying:“Don’t worry, your highness, we’ll have him sent to the executioner as quick as the flight of a eagle.“ „Stop lying, you got old Sally last week and i can still hear her yelling at me across town telling me to cut my hair!“, he said in rebellion as he was grabbed by the arms. His swift exit was stopped abruptly by the man on the throne raising his hand to stop his servants. The man had the uniform of an admiral, but not the face of one. His soft lines and bushy beard were contrasted by his white uniform, a collar, and miscellaneous etchings of birds and butterflies on it. After he’s dropped in front of him, the tall, well built king stands up and with a nonchalant voice speaks: „Well, whatever this man has come for, i doubt it would take long. Add to that that this isn`t part of  the same blasted routine every morning, and i think he can be spared for now. So, come on now. Speak.“

Not expecting this much kindness, the man was in shock and felling flabbergasted he just mumbled noises under his breath. Becoming impatient, a guard behind him gives him a small motivating poke with his spear. Feeling the cold steel makes him jump and he then quickly expausets: “Your majesty, your highness , your masterness, please listen! Our crops haven`t grown in months, and things are getting desprete. Poachers keep stealing whatever good food  is left, and I ain`t the fighter I used to be. I don’t see how much longer these people can last out there.“ Turning his head right from the blue ones of his king, he meets ones perfectly matching, but much more intimidating. For they were of Queen Andrisa Butterfly. Sitting there in her puffy purple dress, pinned up hair, and most peculiarly two four pointed stars on her cheaks, the peasant should’ve been able to say his thoughts freely but her cold stare made it a difficult task.  After summoning up some courage he says:“Is there nothing you can do to help your people?“. The 27 year old queen looked at the begging man, with a stoic face. Her deep voice then bounced off the walls:“Let him go, and give him some bread on his way out.“ The guards exchanged a confused look before being told off by the king. As the man left, the queen gave a defeated sigh.

~

„These peasants are growing way too rebellious for their own good! Asking for handouts from the crown, how ridiculous! Something must be done about it! Tighten up our guard, expand the garrison, anything before they start throwing themselves at our walls!“, the gruff voice of Colonel Andrew yelled at the tail end of a table. From the middle a posh answer came from Countess Malina:“Yes, i agree, then we should probably do something about our food shortage problems instead of listening to paranoid actions suggested by a lackey soldier.“ An aggressive argument ensued between both parties, like it had between everyone else. At the center was Andrisa, feeling hopeless as to this emergency meeting she called. She didn’t know why she bothered anyway. Most of the people at the table fit her definition of idiots and some went above and beyond. The rich at the table constantly either wanted to claim ignorance or just throw money until it went away, while parts of the administration moaned how that ruined their stupid systems, while some just spat nonsense, like Andrew was. They were in the boardroom, which looked drab to other parts of the castle, as though the architect knew this was the designated place of mind-numbing and boredom. The choir of nonsensible  noises had been singing for the past half hour, trying to come up with a solution for the peasant this morning. All that had been accomplished so far was that the bad blood among the members of the council went up to the highest shade of crimson. Ten minutes into the ordeal, Andrisa lost interest and just sat back in her chair letting the voices fade into one another until an actual discussion could start.

“Andrisa please, heed my advice. Tell Alec to make his company start patrolling the streets until further notice.”, was the thing that finally grabbed her attention, although that it came from Andrew didn’t please her one bit. So strange for an experienced commander to be so well spoken and yet so easily spout gibberish. A well trained soldier who gets forgiveness and a couple promotions just by his father’s name is always the worst to deal with. They aren’t stupid, they just were never forced to be smart, something that could be said about most people at this table.  The sight of the hard lines of his face, his milletary cut hair and his sideburns were like looking at an annoying clown, at least for Andrisa. His “advice” was enough to tick her off completely: “Oh, hello, Andrew. I would’ve never noticed your yelling and screaming unless it was aimed directly at me. How’s your command going?”, she asked leaning in.

“It’s going very well and I apologise for my  rude manners. But that’s beside the point, what really matters is that we bolster our security.”

“Well, of course, it’s always you that makes that kind of suggestion. Which surprises me, because I have no doubt others have that same opinion, but I never hear from _them_.”

“Ha,well... I guess I just have a loud voice.”

“That you most certainly do. But anyways, why would your plan even work?”

“I’ve seen it time and time again. A bit of trouble hits them, and they immediately go for anarchy and chaos. No shipments at any store that day, they steal from one outside town. A guard stops them for a safty check, and before you know it they already crossed the sea running in fear.”

“All fine points, but may ask why would us policing the streets make them want to rebel less?”

“It’s inevitable, my queen. We must prepare for the worst.”

“A bit quick to the punch don’t you think? Also, I made this meeting to DISCUSS ideas, not for you to tell me what to do.”

“My apologi…”

“Why do you always come to these conclusions, Andrew? Is it an easy way out? Just bolster the defences, and every problem just goes away?”

“No, you misunderstood…”

“May I ask you something, my dear Andrew? Outside of that suggestion, do you have anything else to add?”

“N-not really, no…”

“Ah, I see. Well, if that’s how you are, a shortsighted child who screams his thoughts, then I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“Y-you cant shove me out of the room like that!”

“Well… there’s always the corner if you want to stay.”, said the queen with a grin.

 Andrew stood silently, expecting an objection from the other members, but everybody just avoided eye contact. A few awkward moments later, he storms out to the dismay of no one.

The silence afterwards is broken by Malina:”Your highness, is there any solution you know of that could be quick or something to at least stall the famine?  An old artifact, a debt repayment from an alchemist, something from the Butterflies past? Perhaps, you may know of a… spell to help us?”. Andrisa’s face became stiff to the question. “Ah… Well…”, before she could finish an older voice interjected:”NOW, HOLD ON A MINUTE! What is this nonsense! What do you want, to grow plants at will? It took years of research  just to make a rock levitate, but you want something impossible now?  I thought Andrew and his delusions left, but apparently not. ”, said the angry man standing  up from his chair, scaring Malina to silence. It came from Etin, Andrisa’s only speck of sanity during this entire torture session, sat to her right.

After his commanding shout that even scared Andrisa a little, he sits down and finally gives her some time to speak.  With a heightened voice she begins:”If this meeting taught us anything, is that none of us know how this began or how to fix it, and until more information is gathered all this useless bickering gets us nowhere. So until then, some temporary policies will be put in place. First, a reduction in taxes so we don’t starve out the poor souls, and second, everyone here, including me, is under obligation to make sure they bring in as much food into the kingdom as possible.  Whatever earl, trader, count  you know, make sure that they give some contribution to the cause. These terms are nonnegotiable. Any objections?”.  Many looked at her with a unfriendly glare, but no one said a word of retaliation. “None? Good. I bid you all a fond farewell.” Leaving the members with a bittersweet taste in their mouths, she exits to her own private corridor while the others go outside. Just as she almost leaves the boardroom behind, she turns and finds a gray handlebar mustache and bald head peeking beyond the door. “Etin!”, the queen joyously exclaims. “Ah, you know what it’s nothing. I’ll talk to you later”, Etin says trying in futile to escape as the queen has already grabbed him by the sleeve with great strength. Pulling him in, she enthusiastically says:”Why don’t you just talk to me now? You’re precisely the thing I need after that mess.”

“Oh, its nothing, just to compliment you for handling it.”

“Well, if it weren’t for you lovingly yelling at me for years, I don’t how I would’ve managed. And thank you for saying something, I nearly lost it just dealing with Andrew. But you just came out of nowhere. Are you all right? Not under too much stress, are you?”

“No, no, just a couple of the new trainees have been getting on my nerves, that’s all.”

Poor Etin, having to be like this for his job. Many people thought of him as strict, but there was nothing further from the truth. The soft elderly soul that he had was just masked under necessary bureaucracy and general contempt for that same bureaucracy. Andrisa knew this the best, having known him since her early childhood. After fathers death, her mother became quite ill and couldn’t take care of her alone. So Etin, one of the master knights men, was brought in to help. Most of his care was keeping her safe and entertained until her mother came for her teachings. He was such a perfect playmate for her, that Andrisa even commanded her mother to let her spend more time with Etin instead of having to learn whatever boring lesson she had in mind. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, her mother succumb to her illness, dying when Andrisa was only nine. In her will, she told that Andrisa should be brought up by Etin, being one of her most loyal and kind servants she ever had that was perfect for her daughter.  Etin’s role soon grew to not only keeping her safe, but teaching her the ways and methods of royalty. He half kept this promise, teaching her history, philosophy, and even magic as best he could, but the ineffective methods of the royals boiled his blood. Instead he opted to go against the book, using his own “homegrown” methods, if you will. As time went on, they became to each other like a well deserved rest, from the mind killing monarchy, dumb aristocrats, strenuous responsibilities and the general stress that permeated their lives.

“Well, I haven’t talked to you in a long time, so whenever those trainees decide to get better, feel free to stop by for a cup of tea. I missed you and your old stories.”

“I’ll make sure to remember. But… could I ask you something?”

“Of course, you can ask me anything.”

“You looked quite startled when Malina mentioned magic. You’ve have been training haven’t you?”

“Of course I have! Its just that nobody asks me anything about it, so I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“Well.. Ok then. I promise I’ll see you soon.”

“I hope it is.”, she then gave him a soft hug which he kindly returned.

As they said their goodbyes, a headache came back to Andrisa knowing what she had to do.

~

The stars and moon reflecting as shining pale white spots off the calm dreamy ocean was just the remedy Andris needed after a long and tiring day of meetings, negotiations, consulting, and dilly dallying around the kingdom. As she sat on the terrace of her bedroom in her pajamas, the quiet night filled her mind with clarity and peace, as she’d need it for her next arduous task. Walking up to her bed, she  grabbed underneath it a small wooden box with a purple and blue butterfly in the middle. Twirling through her hair and pulling out a small key, she had one final deep breath before putting it into the center of the butterfly and turning the lock. It clicked and opened up, revealing a glass wand with a eight sided crystal head with two small white wings pointing upward. Underneath it was an ancient looking book with the wand engraved on it. Andrisa felt her own wand for the first time in months, being much lighter then she remembers. With it in her hands, she felt like she was looking at a blank page with no idea what to write. Unbenonuced to her, the door creaked open and entered Alec, her husband. When he saw her holding the wand, he jumped back in fright as he remembered  many nasty memories with it. This reaction, although comical, gave the queen a deep feeling of regret. “Sorry, dear. It’s just that that thing always causes a mess whenever its around. I didn’t mean anything towards you.” She knew he was right, regretfully so, as she was only an intermediate wielder of the wand, only mastering some spells from her youth that she used to hide and run away with. Etin wasn’t the best teacher either, being baffled as she was every time they did a spell. But the situation needed fixing and magic was one of the quickest, so she had no real choice.

“No, it’s fine. How did the punishment for the guards go?”

“Two hundred push ups, ten miles running, and five hours of sparing. That’ll teach them not to party like that again.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re here, cause I could use some help with this.”

“How can I help you with magic?”

“Not with that, with _him._ ”

“OH.”

He sits down beside his wife, both gazing at the book with an anxious expression. The slow turning of the pages let out weirdest incarnate, that which looked out at the universe and thought it could out do it. Laying in its sleeping state upon the pages, it still held some aura non explainable. Slowly opening one of its eyes, it spoke:”Oh, so it’s time then.” What followed was an explosion of light that shone as bright as the stars above, leaving in its wake just a small blue man levitating in a meditating position and Andris and Alec on the floor. “Hello, Andrisa, how are you? Feeling fine? Pumped up for magic?”

“Glossyrck, oh how I missed you! Why yes, I’m so excited I can barely control it!”, the queen said  with a sweat.

“Well, it’s GREAT to see you like this. And what about his big guy here, ah? Looking good as ever.”, Glossyrck then flies around Alec,annoyingly touching all his muscles and pulling on his beard . “You didn’t have that the last time I saw you”, he says as he ties one end of it in a bow. “Well, that was fun. So, where do you wanna begin? Levitation? Force fields? Fireballs?”

“Actually,I thought we could skip ahead a bit, maybe to something new?”

“Oh, really. Like what?”, the normal happy expression of his was gone and in place was a deadpan one.

“I don’t know, like something about nature, about plants, maybe how to grow them?”

Glossyrck went back to a smile:”HA! Nah, nah, nah, nah! Call me back when you need me.” He turns his back to them and starts to float away.

“No, wait, Glossyrck, please!”, Alec jumps after painfully untying his beard. Glossyryck quickly turns in curiosity.

“Listen, the reason why we got to you is because there’s a famine in the kingdom that could spiral out of control. We need a certain solution. How about me make a deal? If you give Andrisa the spell she needs, she’ll promise to practice more. If you follow through, so does she. Deal?”, Alec then puts his hand out for a handshake.

“Who do you think I am , some diplomat you can control to your every whim? Nah, sorry, gotta refuse.”, a loud smack is heard when an eight finger hand slaps Alec’s away.

Andrisa moves in closer with her hands clasped:”Please Glossyryck, just give me something to work with. A hint, a clue, anything!”

“…You know what princess, I will help you.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Just follow me through this riddle.”, Andrisa began to focus on everything Glossyrck said.

“So, to grow plants you need seeds right?”

“Right.”

“And where do the seeds grow?”

“Uh, in the ground?”

“Good, good. And in what process does the ground have a big part in?”

“ I… don’t know.”

“Condensation! And where does it start? In the sky! What’s in the sky? Clouds! Rain falls from those clouds and into the ocean. Who lives in the ocean? Dolphins! Now, pay attention they’re the key to this…”

“Uh…”

“The have a secret cult for female dolphins. Only one of their members isn’t a dolphin, but a man dressed as a dolphin with really weird taste. Now, he isn’t completely three dimensional…”, Andrisa just stared blankly as Glosseryck left her in the dust of his rambling and insanely fast talking. All she could catch was something about an albino wizard, some “crocomen”, a ritual needing the blood of a virgin whale and a city in the ice entirely populated by terrifying squids.

As he went on, Andrisa grew more and more agitated until the pointlessness of talking to Glossyrck finally came back to hit her on the head. During his monologue, she picks up the book and slams the pages with Glossyrck between them, putting an abrupt and much wanted end to it. After throwing the book on the bed, she threw her face in her hands, utterly beat down by today. Fortunately, Alec was there with his arm on her shoulder to comfort her. “Well, that was annoying. But at least you tried , my dear. And I know without a doubt, whether it’s magic or other means, you will find a solution. So don’t be discouraged by this... man, if he is one.” A small hardy chuckle came from Andrisa. “You’re talking to me like I’m depressed or something. This isn’t the first time I have been told off by that creep. You needn’t worry too much about it. I’m just tired that’s all.”, she said looking him in the eye. “Guess there isn’t much time to train when you have a kingdom to worry about.”, Alec says bringing her closer. “Well that, and between learning from an old book and sword practice with you I know which I prefer.”, she says yawning while laying her head on Alec’s shoulder. Twirling her hair through his fingers, Alec softly says:”Let’s get some rest and we’ll deal with this tomorrow.” Alec gets in his pajamas, the candles are blown out, and they both fall asleep, hoping that tomorrow won’t be such a bore.   

  


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where me meet a crew of an overjoyed boy, a grumpy soldier, and an elderly ships captain and their troubles in the countryside.

The Butterfly army is often regarded as the „proffesional“ one do to it being the only one that has fourteen steps to apply for general, while the armies surrounding the kingdom simply ask you for your name and kill count. Special branches, rigorous training, mandatory testing, were all unique for the army. No one else took these approaches, most others being more loosely controlled and being made up of only recently trained soldiers. Not to say they weren’t effective, they are as ruthless and relentless as could be, only being restricted to more basic strategies then others. There were even talks of some people way east, that weren’t hit by the influence of the Butterflies and other kingdoms, where the parents themselves put their children through such hell that they put the most cruel commanding officer to shame. It being more „soft“( as they still had the capabilities of burning down the strongest cities with ease), the army had much more young people volunteering, so much so that at its height the army had so many applicants that they closed off conscription entirely for a short while. Recently, their numbers have been dwindling, but there were those ambitious souls who still volunteered regardless of the conditions. One such soul is an recently turned 18 year old boy named Sen, who with his beard that was slowly coming in and head full of black hair, didn’t look like he was cut out for the army, but then again no one is when they’re young.  His delusions about his occupation quickly collapsed on him, as he didn’t expect one of his first tasks to be carrying swords and bows up to the deck of an old ship going down the river Es while being shone by the afternoon sun, only to be yelled at for being slow by the captain.

Ah, such was the life of a trainee turned infantry man. Instead of choosing to become a chef, carpenter or anything forgiving, Sen took it all with a smile. After all, this was only the starting point in his career. First he would gain the respect of this captain, then a brave performance in battle, applying for general, reforming the army, and finally husband of the future queen. This was just a small bump in the grand road. „Oy, stop just standing there and close the sails! We’re close to the village.“, Sen broke out of his delirious train of thought, now obeying the orders given to him by the unclean captain. „Goddamn it, having to do this route again. Couldn’t leave me alone for the weekend, no, have to give these mountaineers their stupid weapons. Bloody mountaineers.“, mumbled the captain as Sen took care of the sails. Sen catching the grumpy mans complaining said cheerfully:“Why? This part of the country looks lovely. Why don’t you just soak it all in, you little negative sponge?“. And truly it was, the flat pastures around were teaming with open air to inhale while the massive trees and flowers brought the vibrant colours of nature. „It is, it’s just that it shouldn’t be experienced in a sickening machine that barley floats.“, an echo came from below deck. It was Aron, the other soldier assigned to the route, coming up deck with the last crate of axes and arrows. The prepared roasting by the captain, was reduced to just:“Right, Aron. Not what I would’ve said, but okay.“ Now Aron looked the part, with his straight cut hair, thick mustache, and worked down face. Sen only ever saw him at back at camp, training some soldiers or getting something for the commanders, they never really met until they were both assigned this route. „I thought they’d beat that cocky optimism out of you before sending you here, but apparently not. Word of advice, don’t go prancing down the street singing songs, unless you want to be annoying or act like an idiot. Keep a level head, if for no other reason but to not annoy me and old’Willy.“ „You got it, sir“, Sen answered with the up most of discipline while mockingly giving a salute. It made him laugh at himself a bit, while Aron chuckled at the humor of youth that he hadn’t partaken in some time. Meanwhile, Willy just shock his head and muttered „hopeless“ as he was at the wheel of the ship.

„If you hate it so much, why did you apply for the job? You some kind of masochist?“, Sen teased. „Are you kidding? This is heaven on earth compared to what I got to put up with back home. Going through the same training regimes and jobs day after day while having to be „peaceful“ to the idiots around me, just so I don’t piss off my ball-busting commanders so I can maybe one day, if the gods are watching over me, get a promotion. This is like a vacation to me. When they announced this out of the blue it was like a gift from above. Hell, I even get to eat some good vegetables finally, thanks to Willy’s stache. Willy, you folks up north don’t know how good you got it. Us, we’ll turn straight savage if you don’t feed us, like a fierce cat.“ „Maybe you could learn to survive without food more if you went a bit on the sea, instead of moping around on the coast.“, said the captain with a chuckle. „I’d rather starve then go out to sea. It’s only old coots like you that do that.“ Being amused by the arguing of two hopeless pessimists, Sen decided to give some advice: „You, my dear sir, lack conviction. Maybe you should take some time off. Go somewhere a bit recluse, relax. Bit of the countryside, bit of lumberjacking, bit of wine and that promotion will be knocking on your door.“ „Oh, well you would look at that. A man that’s got it all figured out. I would’ve taken that trip a long time ago if I could’ve. But I’ll still probably have to leave if things keep going like they have been.“ Out of all their moaning, this made Sen feel a little down. When there were people planning on leaving while he was committed to staying, that made him a little anxious to say the least. The smallest drop of doubt came to his mind, the smallest thought that he made a mistake choosing this life. That doubt made him look on at the setting sun behind them, thinking that it was his chance for correction, a chance that was going to be out of sight in a few minutes . As he scanned the horizon, he noticed that in the right corner of his eye, barley visible, were the hills on which he grew up on. Where the Butterfly kingdom could be entirely seen, where kind people took care of each other, where the green country was perfect for nice living, where every season was calm and mellow and where every year he’d go down to see the soldiers in the parade, looking like sentinels of the kingdom, un moving to whatever came. No, no mistakes were made, just temporary worries.

Putting a smile back on, he is drawn to the stache of swords he brought up. They weren’t anything special, crude and hastily made, but Sen dedication couldn’t be stopped, not even if the sword is made of stone, it must be tested properly. He picked one of the smaller ones, as the others were to big for him to handle, probably even for Aron. His grip on it let loose his inner warrior, who will save the day and his fellow countrymen from whatever evil besets them. Swinging the blade in the air, he imagined beasts and witches being cut to pieces by it and his brave will. The picture was poorly translated to Aron, as to him it only seemed of a boy doing some exercises with his poor mans sword. Not to let Sen be stupid by himself, he joined in:“How about instead of just swinging that thing around, we spare a little. Don’t worry, I’m harmless.“

Also using a smaller sword, Aron went in with a bit of smug confidence, seeing as he could easily out do any noobies back at camp. First he went in with a small jab just to create space between them. However, Sen the immediately came like a battering ram to Aron’s wall of self confidence with a ludicrously quick swing from on high, hitting even with the space. Unprepared for any actual real sparing, Aron caught the swing within the skin of his teeth. As he pushed Sen back, the teenager stopped for a second to make sure Aron wasn’t hurt. Aron just shrugged it off and told him to get on with it. Now more fortified, the quick swings were turned bearable, but the same could not be said about Sen’s feet. Every time he’d block, Sen would like a panther back up and attack again with the same speed as before. Block, back up, attack, block, back up, attack... With no signs of slowing down, Aron started to worry, as Sen could probably out last him when it came to stamina. Not looking to be out done by a newbie, Aron turned to more desperate measures. After he blocked a swing, he quickly parried to the left, then grabbed Sen by the arm, simultaneously disarming him and driving him to the deck. A little rough for the lad sure, but being cut by a kid hurts the pride more then it does the flesh.

  „Hey, no ruff housin on my ship!“ „Just a bit of good old boys being boys, nothing to  destroy your jewel of the sea. Damn, boy, you got some fast feet. I can’t do that without spraining my ankle and spending a week in a hospital.“, Aron said picking up Sen from his defeated position. „Well, spend enough time boxing and you’ll just kind of get used to it.“ „Boxing? So that’s why you got the ugly face, I didn’t know.“, a combined sound came from Sen childish giggling, Aron self congratulating chuckling, and Willy’s mixture of coughing and a great hardy laugh. „Yeah, us from up top really like getting rough. Gotta get what you need no matter how, you know? And if you got do it by getting into fights, well, looks aren’t everything. Thankfully, I got to keep my boyish good ones. How did you lose yours?“ „Oh, you’re playing with fire there kiddo.“, both then gave a small laugh, the kind that only exists between men at the pub while they make fun of each other and their mothers.

„Quit screwing around, we’re at the port! Pick up some crates.“, Willy softly turned the ship to the left, stopping next to a small pear. There waiting for them, were huge men with strange snouts for noses. „You’re here! Just bring it all down and leave it , my boys’ll take it to the armory.“, one said through two big fangs coming from his below lip. These were the mountaineers. The came from the mountains, as the name implies, being created to survive  there. With their snouts that had the same sniffing power of a dog, big muscles, slightly paler skin, fangs and claws,(having all other attributes of Memwen kind), they are one of the strongest, if a bit dimwitted, people around. The mountains aren’t an eternal sanctuary, so eventually they had to came down to the plains and live there, just like the ones at Orto before the crew. After looking at them, Sen finally realized why the weapons they were carrying were so huge, no one else could easily wield them. Sen was a bit dumbfounded by the sight, but he was excused as he really left the surrounding of the Butterfly kingdom and barley heard much about other kinds of people. The men easily carried the crates, some even stacking them up to three, as if just to make the crew inadequate in their village. They had no such intentions of course, but seeing someone lift such weight with ease, whilst you’d struggle on your best day, made Sen feel a bit like a seal in a jungle. Aron and Willy shrugged it off, either because their lowered standards or, more likely, they just accepted it with no hint of jealousy after working with these beast like men before. Sen, like all amateurs in any field, felt at first these specimens were just there to mock him, to show what he can’t be. Not the first time, Sen wasn’t all that special all things considered. Many times he felt like this before, whether it be a kid at the academy absolutely dominating him at practise or whenever someone had to correct him in one of his attempts to sound smarter then he actually is. This felling brought much trouble and shame to Sen, more then he would like to admit, but just enough to see that that attitude would get him nowhere. Instead of moping, all he thought was that it was time finally to hit the gym more when he got home. If he could get home, at least.

„Now, you and your crew are gonna have to stay here for the night.“, one taller mountaineer said to an angered Willy. „Now before you blow your head off, there be some pirates that come out at night, stealing ships and whatevers they can get their hands on. We got a tavern with some rooms downtown, free of charge.“Just as Willy was about to turn tomato red, Aron put an arm on his shoulder simply saying:“It’s better to be drunk on land, then sober on sea.“ Willy quickly cooled down at the thought of a beer in his hand. „That’s the spirit! Come on now Sen, we’ll gonna show you how to drink so you don’t kill yourself after a taster.“ „And I’ll make sure you don't go over your prescribed dosage.“ And with that, they all went to the tavern with a joyous walk down the streets.

~

Anticlimax wouldn’t really describe it properly. Sitting and waiting at a table in a large bustling tavern, brought the excitement down a bit from them practically skipping their way there, desperate for relaxation after a day of sailing in the hot sun. Much like any tourist, their idea of relaxation quickly became just a game of waiting around.  After going through a relatively non-special looking town, they had arrived and an awkward talk about their sleeping arrangement with the receptionist later, they were face to face with probably the entirety of the town in one place. Not all were there to drink, a part of the tavern was a restaurant where giant families were having their dinner, which consisted mostly of ribs, stake, an entire cooked warthog and even some rabbit made it into the mix. The crew would absolutely go for any of that, but their pockets weren’t exactly packed for a single route, so they had to settle only on drinks instead. First they had to wade through the crowd of singing, dancing, barley walking drunk mountaineers, being careful not to nudge anyone too much, one misunderstood gesture and the tavern would turn into an arena. Sitting down at what seemed the only free table in the ocean of cheap village alcohol, the hunt for a waiter of some kind began. It was like trying to find a chameleon in a bush, couldn’t tell them from the surroundings. Thankfully, a large, muscly, woman with curly hair that wore an apron was able to catch their cry for liquor, annoyed it seems by it. With an unmotivated trudge, she made to the three foreigners. With the voice that of an older singer that suffered food poisoning, she spoke loudly to try to overcome the wild night around:“You want anything special? Rum, vodka, rakija, spicy shots?“. Just then one of the many beer-walkers had been shoved into her, the waiter giving the man a forceful push to the floor and a quick spit. She then immediately after said with a slightly more aggressive tone:“Well, what do you schmucks want?“ The crew looked at each other in confusion, first as they  expected to be threatened by at least one of the villagers, not by the staff, and second, trying to figure out who was to speak to this waiter/bodyguard. Aron cut the silence, and said to the impaitent woman:“Just a glass of bear for each of us, thank you. We’re not going for anything extreme tonight, I’m afraid.“ Not even giving a nod, she went back to the frenzy of the tavern.

The crew were now left waiting for their drinks, which wasn’t the exact idea of relaxation they had in mind. It should’ve been them drinking the night away, making fun of each other, making obscene jokes, not just sitting in a tavern watching the crowds insane antics in envy. Maybe the women didn’t even make it back, maybe she got knocked out by rouge glass flying through the room, they thought as the minutes drew longer. Not wanting that the minutes be empty, Sen asked the captain:“So, Willy, was it? Not to insult you, but you look like you’ve been on that ship for years. Do you have any stories to tell two soldiers to kill time?“. „What do you expect me to tell ? To tell you that my cold black heart was taken by the song of mermaids while on a dangerous journey to the north that led me to having to fight the monstrous Kaljir the kraken? Or when pirates took me hostage and I had to escape to a rival gang causing a small war down in the south?  Sorry to disappoint kiddo, but I’m just an old man whose waiting for his drink with an overjoyed boy and a grumpy soldier.“ „Yeah, lighten up a little bit Sen. And thanks for the compliment Willy, I never lost my good looks with age.“, Aron said with a hardy chuckle, Sen mechanically joining in to cover up his dumb question. Willy just scanned the crowd looking for the waitress , hoping he didn’t give a bad eye to anyone with his face that just oozed with an unfriendly glare.

 „Well, seeing as the captain won’t share his seafaring stories, I guess I’m the one to fill the air. I got a good one from boot camp. A couple of years ago, there was this good lad in training, stand up guy. While he was at camp, he managed to fall in love with one of the town girls, the lucky bastard. Oh, she was sweet like you couldn’t believe, like a ripe strawberry field. He’d do anything for her, get her flowers, help her with chores, go shopping together in the market, basically his life outside camp was her and only her. Some guys even told me he was sneaking out, only on rare occasions, probably because the romantic charm of showing up at your maidens door at midnight wears off after maybe two times. But to get to the main point, this lovely lady of his was faking it. She was nothing more then a double timing wench, taking whatever man she could for fun or just wanting someone to help her with work, either way, wench. I won’t blame the guy, he wasn’t from around, didn’t mingle in town and was usually just quiet with the other trainees. I didn’t even now until the only three other guys who knew told me. Gossip had its foul way, and soon every one in his company knew except him. Ruining peoples love life isn’t really my thing, so I just stayed out of it. One day the company gets taken into town, and there she was in the streets all cute. But with her was this farmer boy, couldn’t have been older then you Sen. So he stops to say hi, and comes face to face with his women taker . All the girl did was introduce the boy, hoping to make this just an accidental passing with no ugliness. That stoped when the boy started to almost brag of his help to her, saying that he was there to carry her groceries, just like every other day. He complained that it was a bit tiring, but said that he’d do anything for his „girl“. And I tell you that scene looking back, was goddamn hilarious. Everyone there knowing whats going on, except the farmer, just standing there in akwardness. The girl looking away, the farmer just standing there like an idiot, the company laughing, walking away, doing whatever, all the while this killing glare came from the lad. Seeing a man try not to rip another to shreds because of his commander watching, is quite a sight to see indeed. To spare the guy, the lieutenant told him to get a move on and quit slouching. Apparently, the farmer ran from town, not wanting to have a closed casket funuereal . The lad calmed down after a while, being just bitter instead of angry, so that poor farmer ran for nothing. Eh, what love does to a man.“

„Sounds like you got a real professional operation back home, doesn’t it?“, Willy said, finally fighting back against Aron’s remarks about his age. Aron just turned his head away from Willy, back to the crowd. Sen, however, was quick to object:“I mean, I don’t see how sea faring captains are better. You got some secret hierarchy of royalty none of us know about? No offense, but I don’t think that being a sailor is exactly a prestigious position.“ „Well, we’re not the ones that are growing short on food now, are we?“ Sen said nothing, but his face looked like he admitted defeat, giving Willy the feeling of validation that was missing from his trip. Interrupting his moment of gloating were three giant glasses of beer slamming onto the table. The waitress somehow escaped their watch, sneaking up on them like a snake in the night, viciously putting down their drinks which, in all honesty, gave them a small fright. What also took them by surprise were the glasses themselves. They could’ve fit their entire forearms into them easily. After giving a confused look to the waitress about her overestimating his drinking capabilities, Aron said:“Excuse me, not to be rude, but could we have some smaller drinks?“ „This is the only option available, now drink up and shut up. I bet you guys from the Butterfly kingdom could use some real meed in your bodies.“ After the waitress left, the crew were left looking at a rough morning tomorrow on their table. Suddenly losing their drinking enthusiasm, all they did for a while was just stare into their own reflection in the beer, thinking what a pain it’ll be start. Sen was just waiting for them, not wanting to be jumping into the unknown alone. But as he always said;“ Better to start the journey into the swamp then to mope around at home!“ So, with a small tremble he picked up his glass and said:“Let’s try to make the best of this, why don’t we, eh, guys?“ Aron also picked up his glass with a bored tone:“Guess I’m in for a wilder night then I thought.“ Willy also joined in, and they all clashed their glasses in celebration of temporary spoils.

~

As the night went on, the crowd thined considerably, going from a collective frenzy to a controllable busy bar night. All the light drinkers and diners had left, leaving a tavern of only one-more-drop-and-they’re-done alcoholics, which included the crew. Their night had left the joyous group pub drinking level of intoxication and went in to the sitting alone at the counter level. With the crowd also went the loudness of it, making for a much more quieter and bearable atmosphere. Individual subjects could be made out, along with what they were saying, making the perfect entertainment for the half passed out crew. There was a ton to soak in, lone wolfs crying their souls away, packs of young participating in some rough housing, some jerks arguing with the waiters about not having enough home brewn village ale, two friends doing knife dances until one of them got cut, and whatever strange displays they didn’t catch that night. As for the crew, they had no such displays, most of the time just sitting in silence trying not to faint, failing to live up to the „wild night“ that Aron spoke of, talking to each other ever so rarely, for when they couldn’t stay up by themselves. Not that the conversations were any good, mostly slurred speaking and mumbling, like any bar night. Not to pass out, Aron and Willy were now having some sort of political debate(which is what everyone eventually does, given enough alcohol), to get their blood pumping, leaving Sen just to admire the sights around, as he wanted to ignore his two companions and their squabbling. Like a free play in the theatre, he saw it all with a drunken smile, admiring all the actors and their humorous roles, not being aware that he himself looked quite idiotic with with his thousand yard glare, mouth agape.

In his admiring, he noticed a group of three mountineers sitting near the entrance to the tavern. He noticed them particularly, because he swore  that one of them had pointed for a split second at their table. Behind them was just a featureless wall, so what else could of they been pointing to? Even though Sen didn’t know anything about the mountineers, he was at least able to tell that they were all young men, how young he didn’t now, but their smooth faces were nothing like the wrinkly skin sat around him. Aron nor Willy took notice and continued their small talk, now talking about some trade sanctions on chocolate. Sen was intently focused on the youngsters, watching them huddle up and talk in whispers for a good five minutes, beyond the point of caring if he looked weird in his current state, until he met six eyes all looking back at him with a curious glare. What he’d thought to get out of his staring he didn’t know, but it just felt right in the moment. Sen quickly turned his head, not to seem like he had a bit too much to drink and was just looking aimlessly, which he did and was, while all of the mountaineers gave each other pats on the back and made their way to the crew, or him more specifically. One of them was up front, sporting a black mohawk atop his bald head. He went up to Sen, and with hands clasped and with and awkward tone said:“Excuse me, could I use your help?  You see, I’m the town jester and I’ve been running into some problems with the people here in the village. None of them seem to think I’m funny and I’ve tried every trick in the book to make them laugh. Dancing, puppets, funny voices, none of it works. So, I thought I’d do something different. I’m going to try to just tell jokes, to see if that I’ll bring them around. But I need to test first, and no one here wants to talk to me. They all find me annoying. So, my friends told me to be a man, and to ask the new guys in town for feedback. Mind if you listen to some of my jokes?“ „Yeah, all right.“, was all Sen could say to that in his drunken mist, as it made him feel pity on the mountaineer, probably more then any sober person would’ve. The other two at the table, seemed to notice the group, but choose to keep talking, hoping the nuisance would leave after awhile. With a smile on his face, the man cleared his throat and started:“ So this friend of mine said he wanted to go on a diet. I see him a week later, and he’s like a walking skeleton. So I ask:“What the hell happened?“, and he says:“My nutritionist is from the Butterfly Kingdom.““ The mountaineer held back a laugh, as he made a pause for any kind of reaction. Instead, Sen was quiet for a while, and then said:“OH,good, good, I get it now. But you should’ve had more of a build up“. Not yet fully understanding the joke, the jester continued:“Oh, you’ll love this! What sport does a butterfly lose? The fast food eating competition! Hahaha!“ Even his two friends started to join in on the fun:“Oh, oh, wait I got one! Why did the butterfly cross the road? To get to the better food! Hahaha!“ Even such tasteless jokes did not stop their wheezing and laughing. „Slow down a bit, you guys, I can’t give you feedback if you’re going that fast.“ And then in the midst of their tirade, he had finally woken up to what they were saying. Some joke about a previous queens eight husbands, or something similar to that, hit him like a club harder in the head then any of the other jokes, Sen now aware and looking for who had said club. Sen’s brain, now finally able to process the words being said to him, was getting hotter and hotter with every second of realization. Not being amused, he sat with a disgruntled face as they continued their tirade of awful jokes, each worse then the other. Maybe they had lied about being a jester, but with such insufferable humor it was quite plausible. „Do these guys have to do this? Don’t they have enough beer? At least wear some better clothes when you’re making fun of me, jeez.“, thought Sen, trying to calm himself down. However, the strategy of waiting wasn’t working as the three kept going, with no end in sight. They truly were jesters, not funny and always overstayed their welcome.“I don’t come here and make fun of their terrible beer or that they snort like pigs. These guys don’t have ground to stand on, let alone dance like this.“, thought Sen, as the features of the mountaineers seemed to bring him more disgust every moment. Whether it was their likeness, terrible jokes or something other, Sen was brought to take action. Making no show about it, he stood up and after walking to the one with a mohawk, he gave a good right hook to his face.

The thud of the knocked out body hitting the floor, echoed through out the tavern, killing any noise and bringing all eyes on Sen, who looked at his hand in confusion, as if the pain of hitting something, finally woke him up to what he’d done. Aron and Willy were wide eyed and bubbling with confusion, rage and, the strongest of all, fear. The two friends were still laughing, slowly dying down after seeing their friend on the ground, and completely stopped when they saw Sen nurturing his hand. One took a step closer, and in a paranoid reaction, Sen threw another punch, also bringing him to the floor. Now looking like a convict committing a felony, a voice from the bar counter shouted:“GET THEM!“. Why they thought that Aron and Willy needed to be punished is anyone’s guess, but when you see someone mugging someone else, you just think that his buddies next to him had helped. Then most of the attendants charged them in a drunken fury. In desperation, Willy immediately went to the floor and crawled like a snail to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Aron wasn’t so lucky, as a big tattooed man came from his right immediately. Not wanting to take his chances with fisticuffs, he quickly pushed the table in front of him for protection, dropping all their glasses. The man tripped, and fell flat on his face, relieving Aron of a fight, only problem was that, as more opponents entered his view, it only seemed like just one of twenty such. Not liking his odds, he frantically searched for any kind of weapon around him, only to find Sen doing the same, giving Aron an apologetic shrug once he caught his panicked eye.

 Being left bare handed, Aron starts running in the opposite direction. Sen, however had to lay in his bed, slowly being surrounded by a mix of attendants and employees. Two courses of action ran through Sen’s brain. Either, try to knock out everyone with one punch, or make a break for it through them and get a better position. The latter would preferably spare him of too many bruises, so he went to tackle the gray bearded old man in front of him. Like a boulder going through a castle wall, he charged and left the man taste the dirt of his boots. On the other side of the man was the open drinking area with tables around and not too different from the mess Sen just escaped from. With the drunken hounds at his tail, Sen figured that it was best that he get the high ground. Jumping up with little grace, Sen managed to find himself on the table of the most dedicated drinker that night, who probably was now chasing him or Aron, with towers of beer glasses erected in pride of his hubris. His vice, however, turned out quite good for Sen, as once stood on the table, he had something to combat the mob with. Furiously throwing and kicking with his agile feet the unbreaking glasses at his chasers bodies, he managed to slow them down enough not to be completely overwhelmed. But such a thing was inevitable. It started with a mountaineer grabbing him by the foot and trying to knock him off the table., and he attempted it with such vigour that this must’ve been the man who sat at this table, filled with rage at Sen’s destruction of his magnificent towers. No punch, kick, or glass thrown at him would cease his task. The table started to teeter under their struggle, going left and right, unsure where to fall. It decided to go in the direction of the bar, which as it fell towards it, the grip of the man on Sen was cut and he was able to leap in the direction of the falling table, leaving the man to suffer under he wrath of his own towers falling onto him.

Once landed and standing, Sen clasped the counter of the bar as something to hold on to as he was to be pulled apart. Much to his surprise he wasn’t pulled, but pushed to the top of the counter with such force that his face acted like a cleaning rag to it. Turning his eyes backward for just a second, he saw the once disgruntled now angry face of his previous waitress, now serving him in more ways then one.  As she took hold of him by the head, she started to almost scrub him across the counter, mainly to hurt and mock him, but secondly using him to actually clean up some spills to save her some cleaning up work from when this whole wretched ordeal was over. Sen wished that end would come soon, not wanting to endure anything more after being scrubbed from one end of the bar to the other. On his travel, he managed to pick up a rouge beer glass from the bar with his right hand. Once at the tail end of the bar, the waitress had stopped her scrubbing and picked Sen up by the collar, not noticing the glass he was holding. Her nasty grin was cut quite short before it could stretch across her whole face, with Sen swinging it from his hip with all his might, shattering upon impact into pieces to the waitress’s head, falling on her back unconscious. Sen, upon dropping, immediately scrambled behind the bar for cover against all the man who couldn’t get a hold of him during the waitress’s cleaning job.

His compadre, however, was having an arguably worse time. During Sen’s clean up, Aron was at the dining area between two burly biceps, being slowly cut short on air. He didn’t get quite the same attention as Sen, only four mountaineers surrounding him, while the rest that hadn’t left the tavern after the start of the fight went after the boy. In total they were up against twelve or thirteen mountaineers, to count the waitress. The mob seemed to have left once seeing Sen knock out one of the jesters and the waitress, perhaps a bigger fight than they were hoping for, now only the hard boiled brawlers being left. The men who were around Aron, were periodically punching him in the gut, all while the grip around his neck was tightened.    

 Aron tried to out strengthen the man, but to no avail. He was completely out matched in their battle of strength, only swaying him side to side. He switched from trying to strengthen strentghten him, to a try to trip him as they swayed. Matching their right feet together, the man fell into one of the dining tables, throwing eating utensils everywhere. Aron frantically picked up a couple of forks and knives as he jumped to the other side of the table. Then, in a combative stance, he turned around, with his messy hair, red face due to lack of oxygen, forks and knives in his hands, a frightening glare, he gave the mountaineers quite a sight to fear. The men all stood anxiously, waiting for Aron to make a move. Like a madman on the streets, Aron started to stab the air with the utensils, faking out his attacks on the mountaineers. As he did so, they were pushed back as he came closer, until he was almost right up to their snouts and the mountaineers had to call it quits and ran away.

With that out of his way, he turned his attention to the bar and the massive pile up of bodies that had tried to climb over the counter. Somewhere behind all that was Sen, being blocked off from Aron’s sight. However, Sen didn’t appear between the man chasing him, but with a couple of bruises a dozen meters away to the left of them, from where Aron was watching, dusting him self off. The men quickly then started to climb each other to get to Sen. Thinking on his feet, Sen started to pull out the tap on one of the kegs behind the bar. As he did, he pulled the keg towards him and unbalanced it, causing the twenty liter keg to fall on the ground with full force, breaking the tap and and the wooden lid on top. Beer flooded the bar area, making it quite difficult for the mountineers to have a chance at hurting Sen. It was Sen’s idea from the start, just executed with no finesse. As two mountaineers slipped on the spilled beer, a chair came swinging from Aron to the back of the only mountaineer that was still outside the bar. No one took notice, all continuing to walk on the slippery floor to get to Sen. They were getting a little too close for comfort, forcing Sen to jump the bar and meet up with his companion. Aron had finally caught up with Sen and had another target to distract the punches.

Standing beside each other, they were awaiting the attack of the remaining seven mountineers after they hastily climbed over the counter. Sen sweating his entire body moisture and Aron breathing like an horse, they were prepared for the tired mountaineers to catch their breath and continue the fight. A loud slam echoed through the empty tavern, causing all participants to stop their fight and turn their heads at the figure standing by the door. It was an older mountaineer, wearing what looked like a soldiers beret, with a long beard going down all the way to his chest, and most unsettling for the fighters, a giant wooden baton in his left hand. The mountaineers gave no facial or vocal reaction, just scurrying off, breaking all the windows and scrambling through them, as the man by the door just stood in silence. Aron took a deep breath, seeing as the two of them would be to blame for all the knocked out mountaineers and smashed furniture and glasses, and this man was obviously some sort of authority in the town. Better to just be calm and come peacfull- Just then, Sen comes from behind them and quickly runs up to the man, nearly screaming:“Ah, thank you, thank you! Those jerks would’ve picked us apart, bone by bone if you didn’t come in. They were crazy I tell y-„, his thanks were cut short by him blacking out by being hit in the head by the baton of the officer.  

     

                  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry we'll get back to the butterflies next chapter, but if you really found these boys insufferable feel free to write down in the comments. I plan to focus on these guys every other chapter, since they're important to the story. Also, this wounded up being up way longer then I thought, almost 7000 words. It was a real ball ache, but I'm happy. As for the song for this chapter is Rush-Subdivisions, and you'll probably guess why.  
> See you next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see a queen go head to head with a little man and his tricky ways.

A small girl was sitting at a table in an open field, watching as the early afternoon birds came and ate the seeds and bits of bread from the palm of her small hand. Most of her attention was taken by the jays at the table, with their nicely contrasted brown body and slightly blue tinted wings. She had the privilege of knowing all about the birds in the area, constantly reading on them, beyond just which were good to eat, which is what most people cared about around her. The jays got a little bit more then the other birds, but not enough for them to notice. A bit selfish on her part, yes, but these birds were like the sweet topping on the calm and sunny day. The soft wind blowing, the green all around her and the perfect temperature to accompany it. Such was a little perfect memory of childhood. But such moments weren’t the reason why she was there, as an excited Etin came to remind her.

„I think I finally got it! This should work like a charm now!“, he said, throwing the book of magic on the table, scaring all the birds away to the trees, with it open to what seemed to be a page about fire. „Now, you see here? We messed up your pose before. Look. You need to slightly bend your elbows.“, Etin pointed to the drawings on the page of a mature princess gracefully reciting the spell to summon a fireball. Andrisa gave a small sigh to her having to try this spell again for the umpteenth time, something always going wrong in all her previous attempts as was seen by a part of the pasture all burnt to a soft black. Still, it was better then training in the palace and destroying all the precious valuables that decorated every corner of it. The pastures slightly behind the palace were nicer anyway, these training regimes being a nice way for enjoying the outdoors in the breaks between Etin and her struggling to get the basics of her family magic right. She picked up her wand, which only was only separated from a toy one by a glass ball on top of it, and head to try again. With the correction needed in her mind, she once more stood a good twenty meters away from a wooden training dummy taken from the town barracks.

First, she put her left foot forward and her wand by her right hip, then she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to concentrate. Etin watched anxiously, almost tugging at his moustache, believing this was going to be the correct attempt. Andrisa then slowly moved her wand to hold it with her elbows ever so lightly bended to her right. She then took it directly above her head, now waiting for the perfect moment to release. Seconds passed, and Andrisa finally brought the wand down, realising a small fireball from the top of her wand at the target dummy. Or rather, it should’ve been the target dummy. The fireball was released from above her head, it going too high for even a spark to hit the dummy. The tree behind however, was ever so acceptiful of being its target.

When the fireball hit the lower branches and caused the birds to flee, Andrisa quickly cringed at her mistake, giving a quick:“Sorry, sorry!“, as Etin splashed a bucket of prepared water on the burning tree. The fire didn’t spread that much, thankfully, and one bucket was enough to extinguish the flame. A familiar feeling of failure hit Andrisa, a routine by now, and she stood like a soldier with her eyes closed, expecting to hear the yelling that proceeded every failed spell, which she’d gotten quite used to, but still made her ears ache. However, no such attack came, not even a stern talk. Slowly opening one of her eyes, she saw Etin, sitting by the target dummy, wiping the sweat from his brow. Training from noon till now in the open sun must’ve been hard for a man that was past his prime. Walking toward him, she quietly said:“Etin? Do you want us to stop for the day? I’ll keep studying in my room if you’d like.“ Etin gave a reassuring answer:„What? Oh, no, don’t worry, we’ll be back on track in no time. Sure, that fireball spell isn’t going the best, but that isn’t the only spell in the book. We could try something simpler and... not quite able to set the forest on fire.“ Up above, a loud chirping of a birds were heard, and a voice right next to them that said almost in response:“You’re right, Jen, I agree. Total amateurs.“ Turning their heads,, they saw that it was Glossyrck siting on a tree branch with some jays and nightingale, thrash talking them it seemed. „If they took my advice we would’ve been all the way to interplanatery travel by now, but no.“, Glossyrck said the sarcasm nearly spilling over from his mouth. Etin then quickly stood up with his brows in a tight formation:“Hey if you want to talk malarky, why don’t you do it in front of us!“ Glossryck gave a convincing act of being surprised:“Oh, I’m sorry have me met before? My name’s Glossyrck, nice to meet you.“ Glossyrck quickly flew down in front of the angered man and offered a handshake like a salesman would to a stranger on the street. „Look, I know we have problems, but I don’t think your little sarcastic comments are going to help.“, said Etin, right up to Glossyrck’s nose. „I wouldn’t need to make comments if you’d just let me train Andrisa, instead of... well doing whatever you were doing, because that wasn’t magic. Target dummies? Seriously? What’s next, you gonna make her run through an obstacle course?“

 „Listen, we made a deal, remember? You don’t get to train her unless under my supervision. Not after that whole ritual business.“ „Oh, please, that three headed hound was harmless. And we did make a deal, when we were starting out. And granted I am pretty strange and dangerous, all things considered. But, when three years pass and training continues to be ineffective, I think a change of plans is in order.“ Before Etin could give his response to continue their little argument, Andrisa had pulled on his sleeve, causing his anger to dissipate for a moment when he turned to her. „You know what Etin, I think Glossyrck’s got a point. I’m pretty sure I can handle whatever he throws at me now. Besides, I bet you got other important stuff to do. Like talking with the council, training recruits, whatever, just not wasting time with me.“ Etin quickly turned around completely and went on on knee to be face to face with Andrisa:“Believe me, no time with you is wasted.“ Andrisa gave a kind reply with a small smile. Looking down, Etin was silent and thought for a bit, all while Andrisa hoped that she wouldn’t have to spend anymore of her training in misery under proper tutelage. Pulling his head up he confidently said:“If that is what you think is best, then so be it.“, he then came much closer to Andrisa, almost tickling her with moustache as he gave a soft whisper,“But I warn you, if he starts acting suspicious, tell me immediately.“, he turned his eyes back to Glossyrck just picking his nose. Andrisa did think Etin a bit paranoid about Glossyrck, most of the time the weird teacher was just acting stupid and recklessly rather than anything resembling evil. She only thought it was good to be cautious around him , not quite so antagonistic like Etin. Giving a small laugh at the whole situation, she said:“Oh don’t worry. I’ll make sure.“

Etin left and went back to the palace to finish the paperwork he had hoped he could avoid with Andrisa. As soon as he was out of sight and out of hearing distance, Andrisa was surprised to find a rock flying her way from where Glossyrck was. Her eyes widened as she was able to duck just in the nick of time. Her manically confused look met Glossyrck preparing more rocks to throw:“What? You said you could handle anything I threw at you.“ More rocks of varying sizes came flying, Andrisa rolling and dodging her way through most of them, but after one such tactical roll, she saw one that was on a direct collision course with her face, no dodging in question. Panicked, she brought up her arms, one still holding her wand, to soften the blow. As the rock came in contact with her arm, her wand gave a soft glow of blue and the rock then bounced of it, a small white light flashing for half a second as it did. „Good, you got a hang of that deflection spell from last week! Now lets try something else.“Andrisa was surprise at her abilities, the moment of satisfaction being undercut by the nearly psychotic wizard that was supposed to teach her. If this was anything to go by, Andrisa was going to have quite a day.

~

After a day of training that was on par with that of a tribseman having to hunt in the absolute cold for food, Andris laid down in the grass just as the sun was about to begin setting. „Okay,bye Jen! See you tomorrow! Say hello to the kids for me!“, Glossyrcked waved goodbye to the birds as he came close to the tired Andrisa. „See that worked way better than usual!“ Sitting up, Andrisa questioned:“Yes, but couldn’t have we done it all with Etin? The deflections, levitation, the meditating, any of it?“ Glossyrck then gave a long sigh, :“Listen, princess, the reason I’m here is to train Butterflies. And my service is only to the Butterflies. Not to any of their servants and whatever they might do with the lessons I teach. Outside of you, I don’t really trust anybody else after your mothers death. Not even old handlebars.“ Such things coming from Glossyrck surprised Andrisa, mostly knowing him for a wise guff ball. In straight confusion, she asked again:“Wait, why? No one here is trying to do anything, I bet they could barley understand the things you’re teaching.“ „Ah, the naivety of youth. Look, I’m not saying that anybody here secretly wants to put me on ice, although I have my suspicions.“, Glossyrck said that under a cough and all Andrisa could think about was the warning Etin gave about Glossyrck. „Oh, it’s all in your head, don’t worry.“, Andrisa tried in futile to change Glosstrcks’s mind. „What I’m saying is that when it comes to magic, I’m the only guy you can really trust. But enough of that, we’re finished for the day. Now I’d like my payment.“ Andrisa pulled out of her pocket a pudding filled wooden cup to give to Glossyrck. Almost drooling at it, Glossyrck took it and went opposite to where the palace was, deeper into the wilderness to have some time alone with his pudding. Andrisa started to walk back to the palace to her room for some rest. As she walked, she saw Glosseyrck majestically kissing the cup as the sun set on the weird, but romantic scene. Things were going to be fine between them, she needn’t worry. She’ll always be in good favours with Glossyrck, no matter what, right? Right?

~

That day still stood firm in her memory, being quite important given the failure of last night. Maybe there was no pleasing Glossyrck, maybe she only had one chance with him and she blew it. Still, she wasn’t quite sure of the fact. All of Glossyrck’s games and jokes could’ve even extended to everything he did, even his disappointment with her, so no certainty could be had with the reason of his actions. If there even was one and Glossyrck wasn’t just having fun with a procrastinating queen. All this pondered Andrisa looking in the mirror, straightening her hair in the morning . She was in her room, getting a slow start to her day of ruling the kingdom. Entering her room with a few soft knocks, a guard informed her:“Your highness, Etin seeks to have a meeting with you. Do I tell him to leave?“ Andrisa continued the pace of her hair strokes:“No, tell him I’ll be with him in a minute. Oh, and tell the staff to bring us some tea.“

Refreshed and energized a few minutes later, Andrisa went to the terrace where she saw Etin getting served some green tea. „Well, that was quick. You have my compliments, Jacob.“ The waiter solemnly took a bow before the queen and left. „I see you took me upon my offer.“, she said as they hugged. Sitting down on the ornate crafted chairs, the duo began their usual discussions.

„And it turned out that she thought he was a member of the Jahnsen family!“, was one of the many stories told at their meeting, or their meetup to better describe it. Etin was like an endless goldmine for old stories, most being forgotten by even his friends, yet he still somehow kept it all in his head like an elephant.  Andrisa probably learned more about the recent history of the kingdom from him then from any book. Many things she didn’t even consider, like how some neighbouring kingdoms were quite obnoxious to deal with, at least their military section, or how most of the top command didn’t have much control over the wild soldiers. The small things that wouldn’t be written down in any history book, but just important enough to remember years later.  All the while Andrisa just listened and threw the occasional witty remark about some absurd part of a story that nearly made it a tall tale. But Etin was not one to lie so easily, not knowingly anyway, so the fantastical stories had to be true. The best way to describe their talk was like if two old school friends came together to talk about the good old days, while one was much more liberal on how they spent their youth and the other wasn’t even allowed outside without an guard escort. It usually ends up with one mostly talking and the other throwing his mouth in just to remind his friend that he had a childhood too. This was just one of those nostalgic get-togethers everybody had once, all though this wasn’t the first for the two. They had these kinds of conversations all the time four-five years ago, and Andrisa wasn’t even sure what caused them to stop. Something broke their routine and left them isolated for a while. Some frivolous meeting probably that needed her entire attention, that was in actuality quite inconsequential, it was just that whoever was organizing it needed her approval of their policy or plan, so they nagged the council until they too wanted the proposal if just for the sake of not having to deal with the policymaker anymore. Many times they unsuccessfully tried, but it would most certainly continue until the kingdom ran out of idiots that would do such a thing. Such things didn’t matter now, for in this moment she was having tea with her mentor, and he would be most annoyed if she spent her whole time complaining about whatever minuscule problems she had.

„Ah, I missed this. I swear, Etin, you’re more relaxing then a two week trip to the Seahorse Islands.“

„Well, sorry I couldn’t have come sooner. Always some boring problems that needs solving around here.“

„But surely I should be the one whose unavailable? I mean, I rule the kingdom for pete’s sake. How do I have more free time than you?“

„Well... I have taken a bit of extra work recently...“

„In your fifties!? Come on, you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. I bet there are plenty of interns that would die for a chance to do more work. Why not give them some of it?“

„You can’t just do that! They’ll go and free all the cattle if you’re not careful! Then we’ve got a wild cow chase and I know we don’t need that stacked against us also.“ Even though what he said was true, just the way he spoke brought Andrisa  a smile, like an old grandfather who had an old timey way of saying the most mundane things.

„Well I think I have an idea of what your „extra work“ is. Does it maybe involve going to the pub chatting up some of the older ladies?“, Etin tugged on his collar a bit.

„Why would you ask me something like that?“

„Consider it payback when I was looking for a suitor and you basically made a profile on each and every one. I mean, you helped me choose a good one, just didn’t need all that spying on them.“

„Yeah, we ended up arresting most of them. Really ticked of the royals. But, no, I’m not „back in it“ so to say.“

„Oh I don’t believe it for a minute. You know I could just ask around town if I really wanted to know. So, come on, spit it out.“

„Sigh... Well there is this one woman named Laura. She owns a bakery on the west side. I went in there to buy some bread, we started talking and it just... happened. But nothing special came has come out of it yet.“

„Really, no date? I always thought you to be more of a romantic, Etin.“, she stared at him in silence for a while, expecting him to fill the dead air and end her curious gaze with a romantic old folk night out.

„What do I have to do to change the subject?“, Etin pleaded.

„Tell some of the „extra work“ that you’ve been doing then.“, Etin quickly avoided eye contact, almost looking around for some job he did of his own volition. For all his good memory, he somehow couldn’t remember this. Like a match to a candle, it dawned on him.

„Ah! I took this this very morning. Some of the guard saw something floating on the beaches. Couldn’t have been bigger then a small kitten, they say. One even said, that it had a blue tint to it.“, a single sweat started to go down’s Andrisa’s face,“Whether that’s what he saw or if it was the night, I don’t know. I’ve decided to open up an investigation to see what it was. Could’ve been maybe some kind of pet to steal from the shops. I’ll have to look into it. Good enough?“

„Very!... Do you want some more tea?“, Andrisa tried to forget about the small blue floating man story, shrugging it off as a some just another strange sighting, nothing more. But that sighting was to pay her a visit, rising from behind Etin as she poured him the remaining tea. Then she too had that strange sighting, mouth agape and shocked just as the villagers were last night. She gave signals for him to leave via her jittering hands going in all directions. A lazy shrug was the most she got from Glossyrck. „Are you all right Andrisa?“, her mentor asked in confusion to her weird movements. Her face grew a shade paler, and it brought Etin to question just what she was looking at. Turning around, his brows moved like retired soldiers called on by their former commander. „YOU! It was you that was floating around last night!“. „Wow. You should sign up for detective with those supreme deduction skills. So, Andrisa, we gonna practice or what? This guy’s been missing him some magical disasters.“, Andrisa’s face contorted even more to the strange Glossyrck’s strange request, strange because for nearly all of their time together he never insisted upon her training, always waiting for Andrisa to call him. The strange blue man had seemed to have come up with another one of his games. Etin having trouble to figure out the situation, asked Andrisa:“Wait, what? Practice? Andrisa, what’s going on?“. „Oh nothing, it’s just Glossyrck being Glossyrck, you know how he is. He just gets a bit too excited sometimes and wanders about a little. Like now, so he should probably get back to his book.“, Andrisa suggested not so subtly. „I really shouldn’t, we’re massively behind schedule and I saw tons of pudding in the kitchen that needs to be eaten, so why don’t we get a move on.“ „Andrisa, just tell me what’s going on!“ Panicked, the queen said:“Sigh...Look Etin, I’ll explain in due time, but for now it would be best for you just to leave. I’ll talk to you later.“ Like tradition, she took him by the arm and guided him to the door. Etin didn’t go quietly, however.

 „Andrisa, cant we just talk about this- Why is he here? What schedule? Andrisa? Andrisa, could you- ANDRISA BUTTERFLY!“, with that Andrisa stopped in her tracks. Knowing what was to come, she turned around, eyes at the floor with a frown that was that of an eight year old being found out for dirtying up the carpet. Like a disappointed father, Etin told her:“Andrisa, whatever it is you’re hiding, it I’ll come out soon. Now stop acting like a child, and tell what’s going on!“ Raising her eyes to meet the stern look of her mentor, she spoke with difficulty:“Sorry Etin. I’ve lied to you... for the last couple of months. I haven’t been practicing. I didn’t have the time. But, I plead you not to tell anyone, I can fix this! Just have a little faith.“ Face cold as ice, Etin only spoke one thing after a endless uncomfortable silence:“All right, Andrisa. I’ll leave this to you. Make sure it doesn’t happen again.“, told with the twinge of disappointment that Andrisa knew her mistake wholeheartedly. She knew such scorns, however, were needed for the formation of good discipline, but evidently it hadn’t worked out for her. It almost felt nostalgic, her getting disappointed in herself after some lousy muck up. Etin left the queen alone in her room to think about what she had done. Rather, she wished she was alone and not with a trickster by her side. „YOU! Since when do you care so much about me? Or did you just want to embarrass me in front of Etin for fun?“, exclaimed the queen. Giving a shrug, Glossyrck replied:“Well previously your kingdom wasn’t in crisis and I consider myself quite the mewmewntarian. So, should we start?“. „Start? I called you BECAUSE my kingdom is in danger and all you did was spout gibberish at me! Why won’t you just tell me the spell?“. „Well because the solemn truth princess, is that you’re just not ready. If you were, this whole mess with handlebars woudl’ve been avoided. But since it wasn’t, I can only train until you are.“ „W-What do I have to do? Prove myself to you?!“, Andrisa asked and begged. „You don’t have to prove anything. I already know you can’t handle magic properly. Now, let’s begin...“. Like a hungry vulture, Andrisa snatched Glossyrck from the air and brought him up close and personal to what she had to say:“I think there is something for me to prove.“ Quickly grabbing her wand, she ran as fast as she could in a dress through the castle, to the stables and her own personal horse, Rhubarb. Mounting the recently awaken horse, she rode him a good few miles from town before stopping at a lone pasture with no animals, mewmens or houses in sight.

Glossyrck was freed from her wickedly strong clasp onto it, taking a few deep breaths that he missed during Andris’s nervous ride there. “Few, at least your horse riding has gotten better.“, Andrisa quickly shut down his usual attempt at humor:“Enough!“, she then took a few deep breaths to calm herself, „Now Glossyrck, I have a small deal to propose to you. See that giant tree over there? Well, let’s say that if I can set the whole thing on fire, you have to tell me the spell for plant growth. If I don’t than I’ll happily learn under you once again. Deal?“ „Man, you Butterflies sure love being diplomats. But I... accept it.“ With all the pieces fitting into place just as she wanted them, Andrisa walked with a cocky smile to face the tree. The tree was alone in the pasture, its forty meter trunk being surrounded only by the green grass.

Knowing her target, Andrisa closed her eyes like she did when training with the target dummy. But there would be no such failures today. Feeling everything around her, she thought:“Be calm, Andrisa. Breathe. Empty your mind. Focus only on everything around you. Feel the ground, the wind and the sunlight and take its powers. Free your mind. You must succeed. Prove that you can prove Glossyrck wrong once. Prove that Etin’s fears about you are false. Prove that you are worthy of being queen and lord of this wand. To never let anyone dare to ridicule you so easily. Take your birthright and destroy that tree!“. With all her emotions flowing like an angry river, she put her left foot forward and dug her self into the ground. Like a ballerina, she moved her body through all the steps of her spell, never once losing that manically determined look as she did. Glossyrck hung back, evaluating the queen with the his eyes entirely focused on her face, so much that he would catch even the most minuscule eye twitch.

At the final part of the spell, Andrisa brought down her wand and waited patiently for the moment to open her eyes. Silence then engulfed the scene, no sound being heard for the entirety of her nearly minute long wait, except maybe for the soft breeze that came and went. Glossyrck grew impatient, giving quick glances to his imaginary watch, but much more intrigued at the queen’s effort of self control it seemed. Still, as was his tendency, he could not be quiet for long: „Soooooo, are you just gonna stand ther-„. Opening her eyes with a shine of blue, the wand in her hands lit up all eight of its sides and sheer power ran through it. Electricity danced around it as the glow grew brighter and brighter, until at its peak, a lightning bolt left the glass cloud and targeted the tree at the speed of light. Second later it sound was heard echoing through out the pasture, scaring the birds and wildlife nearly to death as they all ran away.

Andrisa’s legs nearly gave out and her sight became blurry. All she could see clearly was the color orange engulfing her entire view. A bolt of confidence hit her, „The spell had  worked perfectly“, she felt even more proud given that she hadn’t even mastered it before. She began to rub her eyes in hopes that she hadn’t permanently damaged her vision doing this. Thankfully, she still had her old eyes. What she didn’t have was her pride. The orange was indeed raging flames, just not on the tree. She missed and hit the flat grass to her right. She saw rouge deer, horses and foxes all trying to escape the spreading flames. There was no Glossyrck around to mock or even give a annoyed glare at her inabilities. She was left standing alone in a field that was slowly engulfed with fire, wondering why couldn’t have she done better. At least her trusty Rhubharb was still there, awaiting patiently, in fear probably, for his master. Even though the horse didn’t know it, it gave the queen a small comfort with its soft eyes and gorgeous mane, Andrisa at least still having that with all the chaos around her.

She returned home to continue with her day as usual. There was some office talk about some fires outside town, but Andrisa payed it no mind. She was suspecting that Glossyrck would just appear in some window as she was having a talk with her advisors. He would act like a clown to make the queen laugh and to make her advisors think that she’d gone insane, if they haven’t already. But no such bittersweet moment of humiliation came, which was quite unlike Glossyrck. Andrisa just went on with her day with the ever increasing feeling of dread.

As the last signature of the day was written down, she went to her room that once was a place of rest and peace, now a place of unwanted conversations. As she went up the steps to her room, her mind blazed with possibilities:“What’s the worse that can happen? He decides to put me through some hellish trial? He thinks I can never make it and infuses me with some divine powers? He’ll train me, but under the condition that I be ridiculed by the entire kingdom? What could be worse?“. Sneaking into her room, she was expecting to see in the unlit space a man meditating in front of a wall or something similar. When the scene failed to materialize, she picked up her family book and, like a band aid, went to the last opened page, the fireball spell. She found a small note, which said:“Gone fishin’. Don’t expect to see me in a couple of months, years, ever, I don’t know, all depends how thing go. Love, Glossyrck.“. Andrisa’s whole body shivered with the realization what she had done. The room became lit out of nowhere, making Andrisa jump clutching the book. „Andrisa, are you all right?“, Alec said to the panicked queen. „Oh, it’s you, dear. Oh, nothing much, just feeling a bit sleepy, that’s all.“, her false consolations failed to win over Alec „You can tell me anything, Andrisa.“ „Oh, it’s nothing that a good night’s sleep won’t fix. Why don’t we go to bed?“. Alec still found his wife to be hiding something, if it weren’t for his own tiredness he would’ve investigated further. He didn’t see much worth arguing now with Andrisa, just as they were to sleep. They both went to bed shortly after.  Andrisa found it hard to sleep that night. She never thought she could push Glossyrck that far into not caring, or that anybody could. She spent her waking hours in a calm panic, trying to deal with the worst possible outcome imaginable. Being left on her own.    

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being a little late, had to study for my driver's license. I'm mostly satisfied with this chapter, only a couple of nitpicky things I would change, oh, and the overuse of the word "disappointment". This chapter probably should have been for the middle of Act I of this arc, but I'll probably take down and upload a different version some time in the future. Also, somehow Andrisa's character completely changed in my head between chapters. Maybe I'm good at writing awkward failures, why I have no idea. Now, the song for the chapter is Uriah Heep-"The Wizard".
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> See you next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing here, so any sort of feedback is welcome. Rip and tear this a new one if you want to. You should know that English isn't my first language, so that's why the sentences can be structured awkwardly. Second, this wasn't the original idea for this fic, this is just a set up for the original idea. If i get to that point, which is pretty far away, I'll probably do a sequel, but don't get your hopes up.  
> Also weirdly, I haven't watched the show in months and haven't followed anything since. All I know that Star isn't actually A Butterfly, which isn't the case in this AU. I make no effort to follow the cannon of the show, so no need to correct me about anything. This isn't inspired by anything from the show, instead I got the inspiration from Metallica's " Sad But True", but you'll never guess how. Most of my writing is inspired by music,s o to add to the fun, I'll be leaving songs that may or not have inspired some part of the fic. but, most of the time it'll just be some cool song suggestions. So for this chapter(oh btw, expect chapters every 2 weeks, one week if I'm productive) it's "Sad But True" by Metallica. Comment, favorite, and see you next chapter!


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